Soil-sterilizing furnace.



A. P. YOUNG. SOIL STERILIZING FURNACE.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 11, 1909.

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SOIL-STERILIZIN G FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

Application filed June 11, 1909. Serial No. 501,675.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, AMPS P. YOUNG, of Cave City, county of Barren, andState of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSoil Sterilizing Furnaces, and do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof.

The object of my invention is to reduce the cost of sterilizing soil,and I attain this by the construction of a furnace that will be simpleand convenient of manipulation, so that a minimum of labor and time willbe required in operating it, and which will utilize to the utmost, so asto be profitable, all the heat generated in the furnace.

F or the attainment of my object, my invention consists in the furnacehaving the features of construction substantially as hereinafterspecified and claimed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective viewof the furnace embodying my invention in readiness for use, portionsbeing broken to illustrate the pan construction. Fig. 2 is a detail viewin cross section of the upper and lower portions of the furnace on alarger scale. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of a front end portionof one of the side boards.

In the furnace shown to illustrate my invention, a frame is employedthat is composed of a series of legs 10, each preferably formed of asingle piece of iron bar bent into an inverted Ushape, the horizontaltop members of the legs being connected by sev eral longitudinallyextending bars 11 which form the support for the top soil holding panhereinafter more fully described. The two longitudinally extending bars11 at the extreme sides of the frame are extended to form handles 12, bywhich to conveniently move the furnace about. Besides being connected bythe longitudinally extending top bars 11, the legs are connected bylongitudinally extending bars 13. Secured to the legs 10, as by rivetsor bolt-s, are pieces of heavy sheet iron that form the sides A of thefire box of the furnace.

A furnace embodying my invention may be constructed to use oil, coal,wood, trash, or any other combustible substance, but the furnace Iillustrate is for burning wood, it being provided with a grate composedof a number of transverse parallel bars 14 fastened to the legs 10 nearthe bottoms thereof, say five inches from the ground. Preferably,alternate ones of the grate forming bars are longer than the others, sothat they project on both sides beyond the legs in the form ofextensions 15, for a purpose set forth hereafter. The soil pan 16 ismade of heavy sheet lron, stiffened on its edges at top and bottom byangle bars 17, the top angle bars proecting at each end to form handles18, by which the pan may be conveniently manipulated. In the bottom ofthe pan 16, near the rear end thereof, is a hole or opening 19, thatextends from side to side thereof, and is formed by cutting the bottomlongitudinally at each side and then transversely, the partially severedpiece being bent upward to form a partition or wall 20 at the front edgeof the hole or opening to confine the soil placed in the pan. Said holeor opening is formed for the passage up into the pan of the smoke andproducts of combustion, which thence pass horizontally through the panto the front end of the furnace, at which is provided the smoke stack orfine 21, it being mounted on the cover 22 of the pan. Said cover is madeof sheet iron, and bound or stiffened on its opposite edges by anglebars 23, that are projected at each end to form handles 24 for theconvenient handling of said cover. Preferably, the smoke stack has ahinge connection 25 at its bottom with the pan cover, so that it may beturned to and from a vertical position at will, it being lowered orswung down to facilitate handling.

Besides the holder or pan for soil at the top of the furnace, I providea holder at each side thereof, so as to utilize the heat at the sides ofthe furnace, as well as at the top. It is in this connection that Iutilize the extensions of certain of the grate bars, such extensionsbeing used to aid in supporting the vertical walls 26 that form theouter sides of the soil holders or receptacles at the furnace side, saidwalls or side boards being formed of sheet iron with longitudinallyextending angle bars 27 at the top and near the bottom at a point wherethe bottom bar can engage or interlock with notches 28 in the grate barextensions. At intervals, each side board is braced by vertical posts orbars 29 that extend a short distance above the top of the side board toengage wire loops 30 that are secured to and extend from the fire boxside, and thus support the side boards at the top. At its front end,each side board is bent inwardly, to form a wall course, extends fromone side board to the.

other. It will be seen that'a soil-receiving spaceis provided on bothsides of the fur I nace as well as at the rear end thereof.

The procedure in using my furnace is as follows: The soil to be treatedis pulverized to the depth desired, and then the furnace is erectedthereon with the side boards in position and the pan on top of thefurnace. The pulverized soil from around the furnace is taken up, sayto'a depth of two or three inches, which is suitable for ordinary seedbeds, and placed in the side boards to fill the space holders orreceptacles which-they form, and is placed within a pan to a depth, of,say, six inches. The top or cover is'then placed upon the panan'd someof the soil is placedthereon, the'quantity of soil placed upon the toporcover being according to the fire in the furnace. When the soil beingtreated is hot enough to burn the hand,

which takes usually about twenty minutes, it should be removed from thefurnace. To

, do this, the wire loops 28 which hold the side boards at the top, aredisengaged from the tops of the vertical posts orbars 27, and then theside boards are lifted out of engagement.

with the notches in the grate bar extensions and permitted to slide offsaid extensions.

The hot soil thus discharged from the furnace sides by the removal ofthe side boards is spaded into a heap, and when this has been done, theside boards are replaced, and a fresh supply of soil placed within thesame. Next, thehot soil from the pan top or cover and the pan 16 isremoved therefrom by spading or shoveling, and'a fresh quantity of soilis supplied to the pan and its top or By the time this second batch ofsoil is hot enough, the soil under the furnace will 7 be heatedsufficiently to kill all seeds therein, and the furnace when emptied ofthis second batch is removed to another place and the operation abovedescribed is repeated. With a furnace burning wood, two men inone daycan burn from one hundred and fifty to two hundred square yards of soil,and con sume less than a cord of wood.

It is, of course, to be understood that changes in the construction ofthe furnace I have described may be made, which will involve nodeparture from the substance of my invention, and it is therefore to beunderstood that I do not limit myself to the particular construction offurnace herein shown and described as an illustration of one embodimentof my invention.

, hat I claim is 1. In a soil sterilizing furnace, the combination of aboxforming a combustion chamber, a soil holding pan at the top thereof,a removable cover forsaid pan, and a smoke stack carried by saidremovable cover, the bottom of the pan having an opening for the passagetherethrough of smoke and products of combustion into the pan.

2. In a soil sterilizing furnace, the combination of a box forming acombustion chamber, a soil holding pan at the top thereof, a removablecover for said pan, and a smoke stack hinged to and carried by saidremovable cover, the bottom of the pan having an opening for the passagetherethrough of smoke and products of combustion into the pan.

. 3. In a soil sterilizing furnace, the combination of a box containinga combustion chamber, and removable side boards and an end wallextending from one side board to the other, forming soil holding spacesat the sides and end of the furnace.

4. In a soil sterilizing furnace, the combination of a box containing acombustion chamber, and removable side boards having inturned portionsat one end, and an end wall at the other end of the side boardsextending from one side board to the other, forming soil holding spacesat the sides and end of the furnace. 5. In a soil sterilizing furnace,the combination of a box containing a combustion chamber, barsprojecting on both sides of said box provided with notches, a side boardat each side of the box having a notch-engaging member, and detachableconnections between the side board and the box.

6. In a soil sterilizing furnace, the combination of a box, having acombustion chamber, a soil pan at the top thereof having near one end apassage for the smoke and products of combustion into the pan, a coverfor the pan, and a smoke stack mounted on the cover at the end of thefurnace opposite that where the opening is provided in the bottom of thesoil pan.

AMPS P. YOUNG.

WVitnesses:

SAMUEL D. CALDWELL, R. FLOYD SMITH.

